Thought I should make time and write some of my thoughts before Durban comes around.

For me the most important message was that Australia must do everything in its powers to keep out varroa and tracheal mites.  I would imagine that a lot of the words spoken at Vancouver were on varroa.  We can keep it out and so I will do my bit.

As a queen bee breeder, I was very interested in the amount of time dedicated to talking about hygenic bees.  Medhat put a very good point in his presentation about hygenic bees not being the whole answer to varroa but part of an IPM (Intergrated Pest Management) Plan.  We have been familiar with talking to crop growers about IPM to help protect out bees during pollination but the ball is now in the beeekepers court on this issue.

The honey research segment was very interesting.  It brought home to me how lucky we in Australia are to have a research capability funded by levies on honey. We have been able to fund research on looking for honey that has anti-bacterial properties.  This will certainly give a good niche market plus all the publicity we receive, especially here in Australia, will have a positive spinoff on honey in general.

The other great feature was being able to meet people that up to know had only been an email address.  I made a point of trying to make a mental picture of how people would look but, as usual, reality was totally different.  Aaron you were much younger.  It was also great to be able to catch up with the many friends in the beekeeping world in Canada I have made over the past 13 years.

All in all it was a great event and congratulations to the organisers.
I will certainly be challenged by the seminars I attended for a long time to come.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA